This post enumerates available means to get more storage on iPhone SE 3 and other iPhones running on the latest iOS version. Read on more detailed instructions.
Extra iPhone Storage
Unlike Android smartphones, none of the existing iPhone variants have SD card support. This means that each iPhone has a fixed storage.
Based on the specs of the latest iPhone 13 series, available internal storage capacity ranges from 128GB to 512GB with 4GB RAM.
As for the new 3rd generation iPhone SE, the available storage options start from 64GB to 256GB.
This leaves iPhone buyers to pick the one that suits their needs and budget. The lower the cost, the lower storage capacity it has. The higher the storage capacity, the higher the price you pay.
So far, limited storage is one of the main downsides of owning an iPhone unless you’ve managed to procure the highest-tiered hefty model.
But on a positive note, there are few things that can be done in order to maximize and optimize storage usage of your iPhone. Thus, getting the cheapest (base) iPhone model isn’t totally a snag.
Highlighted below are a few options you can resort to when in dire need to stretch your iPhone storage.
Different Ways to Get More Storage on iPhone
Since iPhones don’t have SD card support, getting more storage can only be achieved with these subsequent solutions.
Option 1: Free up Storage Space on your iPhone
A typical way to optimize your iPhone storage is to free up some space. This can be done by deleting old and unwanted files including unused apps, photos, videos, messages and other saved documents.
If deleting isn’t an option, moving important files and documents to your iCloud storage is recommended.
By default, each Apple account is entitled with a free 5GB of iCloud storage. This should be good enough space to allocate medium-sized contents.
- To access and manage your iPhone storage, just head over to Settings-> General-> iPhone Storage menu and then see the recommendations about optimizing storage.
You can also review which of your apps are taking the most space on your device and gauge whether or not those apps are useful. If they’re not, then you better have them uninstalled permanently.
You can also delete media files that are no longer in use such as music, podcasts, videos and other multimedia contents to free up even more space from your iPhone storage.
Another option is to use in-built features like automatic deletion of old messages and offloading of unused apps.
Option 2: iCloud Upgrade for more iPhone storage
Your iCloud account can be used as a primary or secondary storage for your iPhone files including photos, videos and messages.
All you have to do is enable iCloud services for your iPhone.
- To access and manage your iCloud storage, just go to Settings-> your account name-> iCloud menu.
There you can use inbuilt cloud features like iCloud Photos to store important photos and videos to the cloud rather than keeping them on your iPhone.
To make this happen, your iCloud account must be set up and enabled on your iPhone beforehand.
- To enable automatic photo saving to iCloud Photos, just turn on the iCloud Photos from the Photos menu under iCloud settings on your iPhone.
The same thing can be done with your messages.
- To enable Messages in iCloud, just head back to Settings-> Your Account Name-> iCloud and then toggle to turn on Messages.
If the free 5GB iCloud storage is not enough, you can upgrade your iCloud account. Upgrading means buying and getting more storage plans in iCloud. This also denotes more space to allocate backup files from your iPhone and other Apple devices that are linked to your iCloud account.
Among the available plans are 5 GB (free iCloud storage), 50 GB, 200 GB and 2 TB. Each of these storage plans costs a fixed monthly rate.
- To upgrade your iCloud account, just go to Settings and then select your name at the top of the screen. Tap iCloud and then choose the option to Manage Storage or iCloud Storage. Next, tap Buy More Storage or Change Storage Plan depending on your upgrade history. Select your preferred upgrade option based on the storage you need.
Note that the higher the storage tier (more iCloud storage), the bigger the price you’d pay.
Nonetheless, you can upgrade or downgrade your iCloud account at any time.
Just select your preferred storage plan that best suits to your needs and then confirm your purchase.
You may be asked to enter your Apple ID password to confirm your iCloud storage space upgrade, so better be ready with this information.
If Family Sharing is enabled on your iCloud account, you can add members to your plan so that they too can utilize a portion of your upgraded storage plan.
Option 3: External Storage Devices for more iPhone storage
Several years later, tech manufacturers have finally developed external storage devices that are compatible with the Apple system.
There are a few external devices that you can buy to increase the overall storage capacity of your iPhone. These devices are typically plugged into the iPhones using a Lightning connector or Lightning adapter while others are designed to work just like flash drives.
Tagged among the best external storage drives for storing media files on new iPhones would include the following:
- Qarfee Drive
- HooToo iPhone Flash Drive
- Sandisk iXpand
- EATOP iPhone Memory Stick
- Leef iBridge 3
- LaCie Rugged Mini
- LIY7 Pendrive
- iDiskk
If plugging isn’t your preference, you can go for wireless storage devices to increase your iPhone Storage instead.
You can buy a wireless hard drive that’s compatible with your iPhone. Among the top picks would include Seagate One Touch Portable Hard Drive, WD External USB Portable Hard Drive, WD My Passport Ultra Portable Hard Drive and Crucial X6 SE Portable Solid State Drive, to name some.
Keeping the iPhone software updated is also recommended to ensure optimal system performance. Software updates may likewise embed some dedicated patches to eliminate useful files that are cached in certain apps and system services, thereby freeing up some storage space.
Cached files also take up a portion of the overall internal storage so clearing them out also helps maximize your iPhone’s storage space.
And that’s how you can get more storage for your iPhone SE 3 and other iPhones running on the latest iOS version.
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